Best linux distribution for Zoneminder

gola10 · Post by **gola10** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 12:22 am

I has used Zoneminder 1.22.?? under Mandriva 2007 from livecd wich worked excellent since it was already intalled and configured on the livecd.

I upgraded the hardware and had to install Mandriva 2009 and fortunatelly found a ZM rpm to install but i had to configure it and it has worked ok but not as good as 2007 was.

I would like to know which linux distribution is mostly used for zoneminder installations. This is hopping that that distributions should have the most up to date packages and plenty of infromations on this forum.

I tried Pclos 2010 which had the zoneminder 124.1 rpm but i am not happy with it. I have had problems with purgewhenfull. It does not run. I could not use webmin to save a cron because it did not saved the new cron job. The cpu use on zoneminder sometimes indicates 12. And most of the time between 2 and 4. The only good thing is that i could make a livecd from my installations and reinstall it on a new machine. Something that i had not seen since mandriva 2007 mklivecd.

bb99 · Post by **bb99** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 3:08 am

I've run many different versions on many distributions and I'm sold on Fedora 12 and ZM 1.24.2. This set up just works! No freeze ups, no shut down problems, no remote access issues, Cambozola loaded and working, no issues with purge when full, No monitor problems (even broke out the old dcs-900a's and they work better than ever before), capture cards are working perfect without configuration issues; I'm happy (and even bored; no more have to fix this or better check that); this just works! I used the post from hiredguntech (?) or better yet try searching the forums for "flowers candy". You'll find very easy to follow and comprehensive instructions on getting your system up and running...

gola10 · Post by **gola10** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 11:23 am

Thanks
I will try it.

bb99 · Post by **bb99** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 1:09 pm

Just a couple of suggestions with this: Enable dhcp for in netinstall, the install doesn't work well with a fixed IP; use custom partitioning and give yourself a large /var; use "localhost" not the (?) domain.localhost; lastly do the installation with the capture cards installed from the very beginning. Enjoy!

Post by **Flasheart** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 6:41 am

I recently installed a new twin-core server with Ubuntu 10. I tried to remove as much kruft as I could (gnome, all the other desktop stuff) and set it going as a desktop.

Running about 8 cameras it was showing a steady load of 1.8 and would occasionally suffer massive load spikes apparently due to iowait.

After getting fed up with this, I wiped and reinstalled using Debian. Result? Total stability and a load of 0.4 with exactly the same setup.

I now have four Debian zoneminder servers, all of which run very well, so I would recommend that.

kingofkya · Post by **kingofkya** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 10:40 pm

I give +1 to debian too also ubuntu for that matter.

Post by **Flasheart** » Sun Jun 06, 2010 8:22 am

I attach a couple of munin graphs of the change from Ubuntu to Debian. I don't know why Ubuntu performed so badly, I suspect that I may have broken the system when trying to reduce the number of non-essential processes but it was running without any errors. This is why I do no recommend Ubuntu for a standalone server, there is just too much stuff running that doesn't need to be.

Load actually less than it was - munin-client stopped responding when load went over 18 or so, it was sustained at 30+ for several hours at a time.

gola10 · Post by **gola10** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 8:20 pm

I look that now i have 2 options. Fedora and Debian.
Just a few question. If the server is 64 bits should i use on Fedora or Debiane x32 or x64.?
Which version of Debian you use? I declare myself ignorant about Debian.
Thanks.
I will try both.

Post by **Flasheart** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 5:53 am

If unsure of which version of Debian to use, just grab the stable netinst iso from debian.org. Debian's famous for having slow release cycles and rigorous testing and many production systems run on testing and even unstable releases without too many problems, but even so, stable is recommended for most.

CodyLynd · Post by **CodyLynd** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 2:02 pm

What do you mean stable releases and unstable releases ?

Are they different ?

mikaelarhelger · Post by **mikaelarhelger** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 6:11 am

We had issues with Debian x64 on Qnap TS-259Pro+

http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17225

Therefore, you may want to wait until resolved (depending on your installation, of course).